Days before Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shazia Ilmi has landed into a controversy because of her alleged "Muslims ought to be communal this time" remark.

The party distanced itself from her remark and said she should not have said
it.

"Muslims are very secular. Muslims ought to be more communal. (They) do not vote for their own. (AAP leader) Arvind Kejriwal is your own. I say, it is enough of secularism," Ilmi, who contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ghaziabad earlier in the month, is seen saying in the video.

"Here helping the Congress win, there someone else. Please do not be so secular. Muslims are secular. They will continue to vote for others. Other parties don't do such things?" she said.

It is a short 1.19 minute video clip, apparently a sting operation, where Ilmi is seen talking to Muslims. The video, believed to be shot in Mumbai, where she had gone for campaigning for AAP's South Mumbai candidate Mira Sanyal, shows Ilmi talking with her head covered with a dupatta. Mumbai goes to polls on April 24.

Ilmi, a member of AAP's national executive, is seen further saying "agree, this is controversial, but this is important" in reaction to a person sitting next to her who said "we are afraid, we have to vote".

Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections in 2013, when Ilmi had contested for the MLA seat from RK Puram, her name was embroiled in an alleged sting operation showing her and several other AAP candidates asking for donation in lieu of favours.